François

Nice little side story to the Laundry Files from @cstross@wandering.shop

(comment on Overtime)

Nice little read - issued for world book day in 2018.

(comment on The girl who thought she was a dog)

Interesting book, impossible to put in a genre. Nice little read :-)

(comment on Jennie)

Livre pour le moins bizarre. Une introspection sur fond de monologue. Je ne sais pas trop quoi en faire...

(comment on Extinction)

This is a follow up to rhesus, so better have read that one before. And Bob leaves front stage to Mo...

(comment on The Annihilation Score)

Third installment - can be read separately, but as usual, better if you've read the previous ones (and can stand the repetitions for those who haven't). Again - nice and easy reading, many plot twists :-)

(comment on Death Walks Behind You)

Kind of follow-up to the previous one. Still nice, but the author doesn't play fair. For me the reader should have all the pieces to be able to solve the riddle, and here, you don't, so no much of a chance to solve the mysteries. Too bad. Still does for nice reading.

(comment on Creatures of Dust)

Disappointed by the book. While the plot in itself is not bad, what killed me is this: the hero is supposed to bed french, and the action happening in Paris. First anywhere he's going is described with plenty of useless details which only give the impression the other has never set foot in Paris and is working with a map in front of him: He took rue lepic then made a left rue chambrol to end up at the crossing of rue bicagnol and posmeye or something in teh way thereof. Talk about I'm paid by the word so I'll add as many as I can, neve rmind if they're useless. And then of course the french is plain wrong -gender and grammar error kill it completely if you happen to really speak french. I'm sure for english readers throwing in the odd word adds a je-ne-sais-quoi to the story, but I just couldn't believe that somebody as known as the other couldn't be bothered to have the french checked by a french speaker. Spoiled it a lot for me. But if you don't speak french, go ahead, have fun !

(comment on Monsieur Pamplemousse Hits the headlines)

Comme tous les ouvrages collectifs, certains auteurs sont plus intéressants que d'autres, et les histoires varient aussi; Certaines énigmes ont été résolues, d'autres pas. Et les grandes énigmes de l'histoire sont essentiellement française, sans toujours un intérêt évident pour les non-français. Tout cela mis à part, cela reste une livre à lire :-)

(comment on Les grandes énigmes de l'histoire)

Well. How shall I put this ? That's the end of the laundry files for me :-) There are more , subtitled "new management", but quite frankly, since the rhesus (#5) I've been hoping the narrative and the style would revert to the one from the first 4 books. It did not really. It has strayed too far for me and i'm leaving it at that. I'll probably try other Stross books (he is a good writer), but most likely not from the laundry file series. It's a case of " the first episodes were too good, how do you live up to it ?".

(comment on The Labyrinth Index)

J'aimais bien Alistair, mais cela a quand même un peu (tout petit peu) vieilli :-)

(comment on Athabasca)

Excellent livre, même si ce n'est pas ce à quoi je m'attendais. C'est un récit, je suis tenté de dire minute par minute, des événements qui ont amenés Hitler au pouvoir. Et teaser: l'histoire ne commence pas du tout là où vous croyez qu'elle commence. C'est un livre aride, ardu - un travail scientifique, pas qu'un roman. Avec toutes les références documentées. Rien de mal à cela, mais pas du tout ce à quoi je m'attendais. Si vous voulez tout savoir sur l'arrivée au pouvoir des national-socialistes en Allemagne, c'est le livre qu'il vous faut.

(comment on Les irresponsables)

Probably the first McCall I did not fully and thoroughly enjoyed. Rare enough to be mentionned. Somehow not his usual style ? Or maybe I'm tired ? You figure it out...

(comment on Emma)

This continues in the path laid out which started in Rhesus, the conclusion will mos tlikely be in the next book. From Rhesus onwards the books need to be read in sequence.

(comment on The Delirium Brief)

Shub-Niggurath revisited - HPL isn't the only one to play with unicorns, so does @cstross@wandering.shop now ! Short story on he side of the main Laundry file stream.

(comment on Equoid (Laundry Files, #2.9))

Excellent little booklet that covers the (very) basic of Welsh in a fun way. Recommended !!!

(comment on Teach your cat Welsh)

Nice and easy for the journey

(comment on The Big Four)

Explains what Bob was doing during the previous book (the nightmare stacks).

(comment on Escape from Yokai Land)

Excellent lvre - court mais bon, qui nous plonge dans les affres de l'émigration au XIXème siècle et dans la vie suisse à la fois, mais aussi dans la vie politique internationale de l'époque. C'est un roman bien sûr, mais on se surprendt presque à vouloir que ce soit une histoire vraie. Chaudement conseillé !!!

(comment on Dix petites anarchistes)

Une brique :-) Un exposé magistral. Un livre d'histoire, pas un roman. J'ai rien contre, mais il vaut mieux le savoir avant de l'entamer :-)

(comment on L'Affaire des poisons.)

We are very far from the original laundry files here. Neither Bob nor Mo is there, Alex takes over (better if you have read "rhesus"). Not sure I like the direction this is taking. It's still well written, but is not at all the same style as, say the first 3 books...

(comment on The Nightmare Stacks)

Not bad at all - nice thriller, certainly very imaginative :-) plot twist upon plot twist..

(comment on Black December)

Nice short story, a delight for those who have read the rest of the laudry files, but perfect as stand alone.

(comment on A Conventional Boy)